Rhal Part 1 (Scifi Alien Serial Romance) (The Ujal) (2 page)

He did not know the emotion, but he knew it filled his Cara.

No longer his. Not with that single word.

“You bastard.”

Yes. She did not know how true the word was.

Still she remained in place, palm on his face, and his scales stirred once more, threatening to reveal themselves. He did not allow them to push forward as other males often did when caressed by their mates. It was a vulnerability he was not willing to expose on land. Their appearance told one and all that there was another he cared about so much that his control was shaken.

“I can’t believe you’d…” Another tear escaped. Another stab at his heart. He did not realize emotions were so painful. She sucked in a harsh breath and shuddered. “Why would you lie? You had to realize it would come out.”

“Yes.”

“So why?” Confusion laced her words.

Why?

Because I could not be without you. Because I wished to keep you at my side. Because I wanted one taste of heaven before I died, no matter how fleeting.

“Because I wished to.” Let her believe him to be a callous, selfish male. It was the truth. He did not wish to release her.

The pressure on his cheek lessened, and he knew she was retreating. Knew and could not allow it. Not yet. He placed his hand atop hers, capturing her with a firm, yet gentle grip. He was letting her go, but he would retain her at his side for as long as he was able.

“Was it all a lie?” She trembled, and a new tear trailed down her face. “All the time we spent together? Talking? Walking on the beach? The kisses and everything else?”

Everything else. The hours he’d spent exploring her body, making her scream his name over and over again. Drawing forward her release with his practiced hands and mouth. He’d hated his time at court on Ujal, hated the pleasurable lessons he’d learned, but loved them during those moments. He’d made countless women cry out, but her pleas were music to his ears.

None of it was a lie. He was simply a selfish bastard as she claimed. Each moment was a pre-cursor to mating, a slow and gentle dance. He’d seen the rush of Vados and Maris’ mating, and he wanted more for Cara. So he’d taken his time.

Enough time for another vessel from Ujal to arrive and remind him who he was—what he was.

Was it all a lie?

“Yes. Everything.”

Her face crumpled, folded in on itself as her emotions overtook her, and his scales, those sea-be-damned scales burned beneath his skin. They fluttered and stretched, pushing closer to the surface to give evidence of his lie. His body could not resist Cara.

“You sick, fucking asshole.” Since he would not release her right hand, she punched his chest with her left. Once, twice, again and again. “You made me love you.”

“I know.” And it’d been easy to fall in love with her. He wondered if she could hear his pain that matched hers so well.

Her small fist did not stop. So she must not.

“Why would you do this? What purpose did it serve? I was happy with my life and you…”

Destroyed it.

“Who am I, Cara? I have not lied to you about my true self.”

She shook her head. “No, you’re not that person. You said you’d left that behind on Ujal. You said you were different here. You wanted a family, hatchlings. I know I’m not your mate, but you said you loved me…”

She did not know everything. She did not know a part of him had followed from Ujal.

He was the one who would do a king’s bidding without question. The one who would do whatever was required to reach his desired end. Ruthless. Deadly. Hard.

“I lied.” He smirked, the cocky expression that had graced his features the first time they met. When he’d first experienced the flutter of his scales and true desire in his heart. Fearful of the sudden changes, he’d pushed her away with harsh words and attitude. She had pushed back. Somehow that had transformed into this.

And now he pushed her once again. This time she looked as if she’d stay away.

Another strike and another. If he released her, she would run from him. He was not yet ready to lose her completely. He would need to let her go soon, though. Just one more hit, one more feel of her skin on his. One more…

Cara yanked against his hold, tugged and tried to free herself from his grasp. He still would not let her. Instead, he stared at her flushed face, the fury snapping in her eyes and did what he’d ached to do from the beginning. Every time he was in her presence, he wanted to possess her. Her body. Her mouth. Her mind.

He would take her lips for now. One last time. One last kiss that would have to last him a lifetime.

Rhal released her, letting her retreat a step before he wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her close. He captured her mouth with his, his lips firm as he delved past hers. She tried to fight him, tried to resist, but she succumbed as always. He lapped at the seam of her mouth, slid into her, and he gathered her flavors close. He tasted her, memorizing every nuance as he explored. Each time was different, each kiss a new experience. It was sensual and sweet, passionate yet tender.

His cock grew harder with every beat of his heart, with every stroke of his tongue against hers. She was not a passive partner, meeting his passion stroke for stroke. It was always this way, from the very first kiss to this last. He slid one hand to rest on her lower back and the other to press between her shoulders, forcing her breasts against his chest. The hard point of her nipples teased him, calling for his mouth, but he resisted the urge to push her for more. He was letting her go, not encouraging her to stay. This was his final meal before he let his heart die.

He eased her backward, slowly leading her toward her desk. He would do this, cherish this memory, and then he would release her. Just this one last…

Rhal carefully lifted her and placed her on the hard surface, continuing their slow and sensual kiss. Each stroke of her tongue against his reminded him of when she’d take him into her mouth, when she’d lave his skin and remind him of the pleasure found between willing partners.

Willing.

Was she?

He lifted his mouth from hers, meeting her passion-filled gaze. “Cara?”

“
Rhal
.” The plea was in her tone, in her eyes.

And he admitted he was not an honorable male.

So when she spread her legs to give him space, he stepped between them. When she rocked her hips against his hardened shaft with a silent beg, he returned the stroke. His hands tingled with the need to slide between them and stroke her to completion, but he resisted. He wanted his last memory of her to be her face when her pleasure crested, when pure joy coated her features.

“
Czira.
” His love.

“Rhal,” she whimpered, her hands stroking his shoulders and small nails digging into his flesh. He wished he could carry her markings always.

He gripped her hip, encouraging her to use him, to take what she desired. He set the pace, and she adopted the sensual slide of their bodies, hips moving in concert as she sought ecstasy. Her hands caressed him, sliding over his skin as if learning the feel of him. While he memorized each and every caress. It would comfort him at night, remind him of what he’d lost and what needed to remain so.

One of her small hands slipped between them, her fingers delving beneath the waist of his loose rip-away pants. They were easy to don and easier to be rid of when an Ujal had to make a sudden dash into the seas. They would float away and be absorbed by the water, not remaining to tangle their tails as they shifted. So when she sought his cock, the fabric melted away, giving her ample access.

“Cara…
czira
,” he moaned, unable to deny her anything.

He did the same to her, finding her panty-covered pussy with ease. He sought her clit and his mouth watered. He loved tasting her, sliding his tongue over her salty sweetness and gathering every drop. His cock pulsed in her hand as she stroked his length, and he returned each caress. He circled the hidden nub, reveling in her shudders and moans as he beckoned her release forward.

The tip of his shaft leaked cum on her palm and the fluid lubricated her strokes, adding to his own pleasure. His balls were high and tight against his body, aching to release his cum, to mark her with his scent since he could not fill her and claim her from within. It was too dangerous. If what he suspected was true and he came within her body, allowed their fluids to mingle, she’d transition from human to Ujal. His genetic code would change her to allow for a mating, allow him to impregnate her with his young.

It was a risk he was unwilling to take. Not when he knew he could not keep her.

So he allowed this, allowed their passion to overrun their hands, their mouths, every beat of their hearts. He recognized the hitch in her breathing, the low mewling that escaped her mouth and the stutter in her movements. She was close, so near the edge, and he allowed his own pleasure to rush through him. The ecstasy suffused him, his scales no longer denied as the rush of pure bliss seared his veins and shoved proof of his true nature to the surface. He roared her name as he came, soaking her hand with his release, but the pleasure of his orgasm was nothing compared to her beauty as she was overcome.

She yelled for him; she screamed his name to the skies, and her hand squeezed him hard, edging his joy even higher. He enjoyed a bite of pain, and she gifted him that each and every time they came together.

She was beautiful. She was magnificent. She was not his, and he forgot that for a moment.

As did she.

Rhal noted when she remembered, when the truth rushed forward once more, and she snatched her hand from him. She pressed her palm to her mouth, surprise and anguish coating her features where once pleasure reigned.

“Oh god. What’s
wrong
with me? What…” She shook her head, and when she pushed against his chest, he gave her the space she desired. She slipped from the desk, and tugged at her skirt, wiping off evidence of his release. Shame and regret filled her expression, and he hated that he’d caused both. “Why do I do this to myself? I’m such an idiot.”

“
Czira
…”

“You don’t get to call me that anymore.” She shook her head and slid around him, dashing away tears as she presented him with her back and strode to the door. She paused at the portal, hand hovering over the pad that would grant her exit.

“Cara, wait.”

“No. I’m leaving and I don’t want to see you again. I don’t want to be alone with you.”

“I would never force—”

She glanced over her shoulder. “But you wouldn’t have to. I don’t have the ability to resist you and I… I hate you for making me love you.” She pressed two fingers to her lips, kissing them softly before turning them to him. A silent kiss goodbye.

He swallowed his words, the ones that would call her back to him, would beg her to stay, and the promises he’d give. He would mate her, claim her, make a family. He swallowed them because they were promises he could not fulfill. So he let her go. Let her rest her hand on the pad, let the door whoosh open, let her stride down the hallway.

And as she raced from the room, fury etched in every line of her body, one of the first rules drilled into him when he was a youngling floated to the front of his mind.

A true warrior has never taken a soul. Only the soulless.

Rhal wondered if the same could be said of crushing a soul. For at that moment, he did not feel like a warrior. He felt like death.

One week later…

Rhal reminded himself he could not kill them. That did not mean he would not injure them, for they deserved that much.

And more.

The silence of the UST’s primary transition bay slid around him like a welcome blanket. Normally the area bustled with activity, the Ujal employees using the space as a covered entry and exit for the station. A hangar of safety when they were most vulnerable.

The quiet didn’t bother Rhal in the slightenst, but he knew it unnerved the males encircling him.
They
were uneasy with the quiet.
They
held fear in their hearts. And
they
should. Those threatening him did not yet realize the beast that ached for release. He had hunted for a battle the moment Cara fled, and now he would have the fight he craved.

The safety grating beneath his bare feet vibrated with each of the youngling’s steps. The metal resisted salt corrosion as well as allowed seawater to drain easily. It also served to notify him of the males’ locations. Seventeen seasons and still they were younglings to him with their mothers’ scales clinging to their backsides. Children. If Prince Tave wasn’t a friend, he would kill him for assigning Rhal such a task.

Perhaps he would beat on Tave since he could not kill the male.

The subtle vibrations ceased, his opponents settling into position in a close circle around him. Their leader, a youngling named Sudal, stood before Rhal with a sneer on his face.

“Who are you to teach us anything,
guard
?”

“Who am I?”

The king’s specter of death. The monster of children’s midnight dreams. The one who ends insurrection before it has a chance to begin. The one who learned to kill while his youngling scales still shined brightly. I am your nightmare come to life. I am why you are afraid of the darkest seas. I am Rhal fa Adar.

But those were words he could not release. He could not reveal his true self. It would cause fear, but not respect. And on Earth, far from the king, it was respect he coveted. Respect he would earn slowly through his actions.

He frowned, pretending to consider the male’s words while he actually thought of his attack. The male to Sudal’s right was his first target. It would distract Sudal, which would, in turn, leave the other three unsure of their tasks. Sudal would be vulnerable and easily subdued. Two strikes to disband them all.

The youngling spoke again. “Yeah, who are—”

Sudal did not finish for Rhal leaped into action. He did as planned, striking the male on Sudal’s right with his foot, a single kick to the chest. The teen slid across the damp platform grating to flip over the edge and into the briny sea.